Iraq withdrawl

Tomorrow marks a historic day for this generation of Iraqis. American troops will be leaving all major cities in Iraq, with Iraqi security forces being given the task of dealing with the last six years of war, secterianism, kidnapping and bloodshed. They are planning for a full withdrawl from Iraq by 2011, but American military officials have said that American forces would re-deploy if they were needed. But what doess this mean for Iraq ?

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 Iraq has gone through (inevitably) civil war and hostile insurgencies. With power shifting to an ellected government, but bigger problems and questions lie in my mind about the future of this broken country.

In one of Baghdad's largest neighbourhoods known as Sadr city (fitting and formally named Saddam city) which is ruled by a fairly firey Shi'a cleric named Muqtada al Sadr. For the last few years of the occupation Sadr and the Americans have had a deal that the American forces and Sadrs "Sadr bureau" would not attack or fight each other. Sadrs bureau have been known to violently attack Sunni men for marrying Shi'a women. With allegations of murder and abduction that parallel every group that was deemed "terrorists" (how I have come to hate this word) in Iraq, why were the Americans making deals with such people ? Women now have to wear burkas in public, contrary to popular belief this is not the way it was before the invasion. Sadr is opressive, and will be a burden to the Iraqis in Baghdad once the US pull out.

All through the civil war and insurgencies we heard reports of insurgents "dressed" as Iraqi military and police carrying out shootings and abductions. I have heard it from soldiers and reporters who have been there that these people are the police and army. Not people dressed in the uniforms but actual official police and army. The Government in Iraq is now headed by people who run/own these militias. Which leads me to believe when all troops leave, there will be 20 Saddan Husseins in Iraq.

But let's step back to before the invasion. The reasons for the war. Weapons of mass destruction, chemical weapons. False reasons to start a preemptive war is illegal. The chemical weapons that Saddam drenched the Iranian trenches in during the Iran/Iraq war were no longer a threat to Iraqis Kuwaitis or least the United States. The US knew they were no longer a threat, because they sold the weapons to him, openly !! Why weren't they a threat ? Because anthrax and chemical agents have a shelf life of a year. So if they were sold to him in the 80's they may not be safe to put in your dinner but they were by no means dangerous to anybody. Which weapons inspectors in Iraq said so many times over before the war.

When Colin Powell stood up in the UN and showed videos of an Iraqi air force jet releasing a chemical agent, he wanted us to look at this as proof. What he didn't say was that the video he showed was from 1988 or 1989 and the plane was destroyed during the first gulf war. Another example of the monsterous lies by the Bush administration was the pictures of the mobile chemical labs shown to the UN. The pictures (not photographs) showed huge train cars with an invisible wall showing something that looked like a mad scientist laboratry inside a train car, which people laughed at because no more could you make these weapons on a train, Iraq has one of the worst track systems in the world and the train would have fallen off.

Weapons inspectors voiced concern when Mr Powell showed satalite images of what was meant to be an Iraqi weapons of mass destruction facility with two trucks parked outside, and then another picture of the same building a week later with the two trucks gone.

But when there was no weapons found at all, they turned to an old favourite "we are here to bring democracy", and Dick Cheeny said "I believe we will be greated as liberators and not conquerors", those were his words. Now I would like you to read what is known as the "proclomation of Baghdad" That was printed and put on the walls of Baghdad when the British army marched into Baghdad in 1917. Try not to laugh ok.

"Proclamation... Our military operations have as their object, the defeat of the enemy and the driving of him from these territories. In order to complete this task I am charged with absolute and supreme control of all regions in which British troops operate; but our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators... Your citizens have been subject to the tyranny of strangers... and your fathers and yourselves have groaned in bondage. Your sons have been carried off to wars not of your seeking, your wealth has been stripped from you by unjust men and squandered in different places. It is the wish not only of my King and his peoples, but it is also the wish of the great Nations with whom he is in alliance, that you should prosper even as in the past when your lands were fertile... But you, people of Baghdad... are not to understand that it is the wish of the British Government to impose upon you alien institutions. It is the hope of the British Government that the aspirations of your philosophers and writers shall be realised once again, that the people of Baghdad shall flourish, and shall enjoy their wealth and substance under institutions which are in consonance with their sacred laws and with their racial ideals... It is the hope and desire of the British people... that the Arab race may rise once more to greatness and renown amongst the peoples of the Earth... Therefore I am commanded to invite you, through your Nobles and Elders and Representatives, to participate in the management of your civil affairs in collaboration with the Political Representative of Great Britain... so that you may unite with your kinsmen in the North, East, South and West, in realising the aspirations of your Race."

Now the hell that was unleashed on Iraq will be thrown aside as a victory for the Americans and the Iraqi government. But try tell that to the millions of people affected negativly by this war and occupation. In 2005 there were headlines on papers saying "600,000 people dead in Iraq" but now numbers are dissputed to be as low as 10,000 up to 100,000.

The Americans say this is a good step by pulling out, from their point of view it probably is. It's what everybody wanted. I believe there will be bloodshed on Iraqi streets for years to come when the Americans leave, but hey, at least they will die in a "democracy".